A trio of groundbreaking publications from researchers in Northwestern University's Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (PS-OC) report important methodological advances that will enable a better understanding of how gene expression is regulated, both in normal cells and in cancer cells. This knowledge could lead to the development of more effective therapeutic agents to treat cancer patients. The three papers, published recently in the journals Nature Genetics, Nature Biotechnology and Nature, focus on nucleosomes, a basic unit of DNA packaging, and may help to uncover ...

Sprinters competing in the 2012 Olympics might assume their championship performance is the result of their fuel-efficient physiology. But a new study disproves the classic scientific view that conserving energy maximizes performance in a sprinting event. The study by biomechanics researchers Matthew W. Bundle at the University of Montana and Peter G. Weyand at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, demonstrates that metabolic economy is not an important factor for performance in events lasting 60 seconds or less. In fact, just the opposite is true. "That prevailing ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- In a curious evolutionary twist, several species of a commonly studied fruit fly appear to have incorporated genetic material from a virus into their genomes, according to new research by University at Buffalo biologists. The study found that several types of fruit fly -- scientific name Drosophila -- harbored genes similar to those that code for the sigma virus, a fly virus in the same family as rabies. The authors believe the genetic information was acquired during past viral infections and passed on from fruit fly parent to offspring through many generations. The ...

DETROIT — The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) has unveiled the state's Infant Mortality Reduction Plan, a strategy that includes significant recommendations developed from medical research conducted by the Perinatology Research Branch (PRB) of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (NICHD/NIH), at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. Announced Aug. 1, the plan promotes the adoption of universal cervical length screening by ultrasound and the use of progesterone in women ...

Two common viruses known to be associated with human cancers are both present – and may even be collaborating with each other - in most male prostate cancers, a new study suggests. The research involved examination of 100 specimens of normal, malignant and benign prostate samples from Australian men. It revealed that both the human papilloma virus (HPV) and Epstein Barr virus (EBV) were present in more than half of the malignant cancers, as well as in a high proportion of benign and normal prostate samples. Details of the study, led by Associate Professor Noel Whitaker ...

URBANA - If you've consulted with a nutrition educator about how best to lose weight or manage your diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, you may not have learned as much as you could have, said a University of Illinois professor of nutrition extension. "Only 80 percent of the dietitians we surveyed did any pre-assessment of the client's nutrition literacy, which makes it difficult for educators to target their counseling so clients can understand and act on the information they are given," said Karen Chapman-Novakofski, also a registered dietitian. Chapman-Novakofski's ...

People with mental health problems have a lower life expectancy, according to a large-scale population based study published today in the British Medical Journal. The findings may prompt further research into the way doctors treat patients with even mild psychological problems. A team of researchers from UCL (University College London) and the University of Edinburgh analysed data from over 68,000 adults aged 35 years and over who took part in the Health Survey for England from 1994 to 2004. Participants in the study had been evaluated for mental health problems using ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Concussions and even lesser head impacts may speed up the brain's natural aging process by causing signaling pathways in the brain to break down more quickly than they would in someone who has never suffered a brain injury or concussion. Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology and the U-M Health System looked at college students with and without a history of concussion and found changes in gait, balance and in the brain's electrical activity, specifically attention and impulse control, said Steven Broglio, assistant professor ...

In a new study published in the journal Vision Research, researchers at the University of Southern California show that the eyes and attention of men and women meander in distinctly different ways. The article, authored by Dr. Laurent Itti and doctoral student John Shen, challenges the way scientists generally conceive of attention, or how sensory information is prioritized. While previous study of vision and attention had disregarded individual factors such as sex, race and age, Itti and Shen demonstrated that men and women pay visual attention in different ways. Dr. ...

BETHESDA, Md. (July 31, 2012) — Cold feet—those chilly appendages that plague many people in the winter and an unlucky few all year round—can be the bane of existence for singles and couples alike. In a new study, scientists led by Selvi C. Jeyaraj of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital have identified a biological mechanism that may be responsible for icy extremities: an interaction between a series of molecules and receptors on smooth muscle cells that line the skin's tiny blood vessels. The new research, along with an accompanying editorial by Martin ...

A surgical team closes an abdominal incision, successfully completing a difficult operation. Weeks later, the patient comes into the ER complaining of abdominal pain and an X-ray reveals that one of the forceps used in the operation was left inside the patient. Why would highly skilled professionals forget to perform a simple task they have executed without difficulty thousands of times before? These kinds of oversights occur in professions as diverse as aviation and computer programming, but research from psychological science reveals that these lapses may not reflect ...

In a first-of-its-kind health campaign in Uganda, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill show that adults with HIV who had less severe infections could work more hours per week, and their children were more likely to be enrolled in school. The finding, led by Harsha Thirumurthy, Ph.D., a health economist at UNC's Gillings School of Global Public Health, not only could mean greater earning potential for people with HIV, but also a better economic outlook for entire regions—results that underscore the potential value of testing for HIV widely ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A potentially powerful new approach to treating two lethal metastatic cancers — triple negative breast cancer and clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer — has been discovered by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida. In the online issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, they report that two drugs, romidepsin and decitabine, work cooperatively to activate a potent tumor suppressor gene that is silenced in these cancers. Once the gene, secreted frizzled related protein one or sFRP1, went to work after the drugs were used, ...

NEW YORK (July 31, 2012) -- As a man's waistline grows, so can his experience with sexual dysfunction and frequent urination, say researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The study, published in the August issue of the British Journal of Urology International (BJUI), is the first to comprehensively show that obesity in men affects not just their hearts and metabolism, but also their sexual and urinary health. "The findings demonstrate that obesity in men -- part of a growing global epidemic -- affects their well-being in profound ways," ...

A team of researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the National Research Council of Argentina recently fitted a South American sea bird called an imperial cormorant with a small camera, then watched stunned as it became "superbird" – diving 150 feet underwater in 40 seconds, feeding on the ocean floor for 80 seconds where it eventually caught a snakelike fish, before returning to the surface 40 seconds later. This is the first time researchers have been able to watch first-hand the amazing feeding techniques of these fascinating birds, which occur ...

DENVER, July 31, 2012 – Most people who have diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol have difficultly managing all three conditions; indeed, success is fleeting for those who do manage all three, according to a Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Research study that appears online in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. The study of close to 29,000 individuals enrolled at Kaiser Permanente Colorado and Denver Health found that only 30.3 percent at Kaiser Permanente and 16.2 percent of individuals at Denver ...

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – Research published Aug. 1 by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) links gene mutations found in some patients with Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) with specific cellular dysfunctions that are thought to give rise to a particularly extreme version of dwarfism, small brain size, and other manifestations of abnormal growth which generally characterize that rare condition. Although only 53 cases of Meier-Gorlin syndrome have been reported in the medical literature since the first patient was described in 1959, it is a malady whose mechanisms ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Water Resources Research (WRR),Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR-D), Journal of Geophysical Research-Space Physics (JGR-A), Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C). In this release: 1. The random walk of pollutants through river catchments 2. Atmospheric CO2 drove climate change during longest interglacial 3. Shear layers in solar winds affect Earth's magnetosphere 4. Dams impact carbon dynamics in U.S. rivers 5. ...

DETROIT -- Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers, working with colleagues in Canada, have found that one or more substances produced by a type of immune cell in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) may play a role in the disease's progression. The finding could lead to new targeted therapies for MS treatment. B cells, said Robert Lisak, M.D., professor of neurology at Wayne State and lead author of the study, are a subset of lymphocytes (a type of circulating white blood cell) that mature to become plasma cells and produce immunoglobulins, proteins that ...

More than 1.7 billion people worldwide may be classified as overweight and need appropriate medical or surgical treatment with the goal of sustainable weight loss. But for weight management programs to be effective, patients must complete them, states a study published in the Canadian Journal of Surgery (CJS) that analyzed drop-out rates and predictors of attrition within a publicly-funded adult weight management program. Researchers from the Department of Surgery at the University of Alberta and the Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Royal ...

Scientists at Western University have identified a new therapeutic target for advanced breast cancer which has shown tremendous promise in mouse models. The study led by Lynne-Marie Postovit of Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry looked at a protein called Nodal that is primarily found in embryonic or stem cells. Postovit discovered high levels of this protein in aggressive breast cancer tumors. Nodal was found to promote vascularization in the tumor, providing nutrients and oxygen to help it grow and spread. The research is published online in the journal ...

Because many physicians are unaware of nerve transfer surgery, some patients suffer long-term impairment from nerve injuries that could have been fixed. A study in the August issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS) by Hospital for Special Surgery researchers aims to raise awareness of this type of surgery among health care providers. In recent years, great strides have been made in nerve transfer surgery, allowing many patients with a nerve injury in their upper extremity to have a remarkable recovery and improved functional outcomes. ...

As moms have always known, a good night's sleep is crucial to good health -- and now a new study led by a UCSF researcher shows that poor sleep can reduce the effectiveness of vaccines. The study is the first performed outside a sleep laboratory to show that sleep duration is directly tied to vaccine immune response, the authors said. The study, conducted while the UCSF researcher was a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh, will appear in the August issue of the journal "SLEEP." "With the emergence of our 24-hour lifestyle, longer working hours, and ...

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have discovered a mutant form of the gene, Chk1, that when expressed in cancer cells, permanently stopped their proliferation and caused cell death without the addition of any chemotherapeutic drugs. This study illustrates an unprecedented finding, that artificially activating Chk1 alone is sufficient to kill cancer cells. "We have identified a new direction for cancer therapy and the new direction is leading us to a reduction in toxicity in cancer therapy, compared with chemotherapy or radiation therapy," ...

BOSTON (August 1, 2012) -- A comprehensive study using electronic dental records to profile the oral health status of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) has concluded that access to specialized dental care alone is not sufficient to meet the community's substantial oral health needs. The findings, published as the cover article in the August issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association, provide a foundation for further investigation into the significant oral health needs of adults with I/DD and the development of preventive oral ...